UNews - Tony Russell

Grant to enable purchase of state-of-the-art biophysical research equipment

caroline.zentner — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 17:14:36 +0000

Thanks to funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, researchers will soon have access to a suite of equipment that will help them unravel the key communication events in biomolecules.

“The Biomolecular Characterization Suite or BCS will provide us with cutting-edge infrastructure needed for the quality control analysis of a variety of biomolecules and their complexes,” says Dr. Trushar Patel, a professor in the U of L’s Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. “This is essential for the structural biophysical studies we conduct at the U of L.”

The BCS is comprised of four pieces of equipment that work together to give researchers information about the biomolecule’s size, shape, concentration and how they are bound together.

“As researchers, we need to make sure our molecules are really of good quality,” says Patel. “This cluster of instruments will give us the needed quality assurance of biomolecules and their complexes.”

The BCS will be useful to the U of L team of applicants from the Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute (ARRTI), including Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden, who works with bacterial proteins for use in his research into antibiotic resistance; Dr. Ute Kothe, who works with yeast proteins; Dr. Tony Russell, who conducts research on the giardia parasite, and Dr. Borries Demeler, who works with biopolymers and nanoparticles.

“This equipment array could be used to make sure we have the right materials for research into drug use and understanding conformations when proteins are bound with nucleic acids,” says Patel. “For example, we need to determine high-resolution structures of proteins for target drug discovery and we can only determine the structures if we have the right quality of protein and this machine will tell us that.”

The addition of these instruments to the U of L’s existing infrastructure will not only attract scientists, but will provide students with valuable hands-on training opportunities.

“Students at the U of L can now get experience with the same biophysical infrastructure that’s available at other highly ranked universities,” Patel says. “Students will receive interdisciplinary training and access to sophisticated equipment that can help them secure high-value jobs in the future.”

The NSERC RTI program has provided $150,000 in support of the acquisition of BCS components.

Chinook Symposium winners announced

caroline.zentner — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:32:53 +0000

Winners in the recent Chinook Symposium student conference and poster competition held by the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry received both recognition and cash for their hard work.

In the undergraduate biochemistry category, Dominic Czekay took first place and Ian Andrews took second. In the undergraduate chemistry category, first place went to Jackson Knott and second place went to Nathan Kostiuk.

In the graduate biochemistry category, Justin Vigar took first place while Dylan Girodat took second place. In the graduate chemistry category, first place went to Stefan Lenz and second place to Katie Wilson.

Laura Keffer-Wilkes received the Loren Helpler Gold Medal for PhD Research Excellence for her research presentation. Dr. Purshotam Sharma received the inaugural Christopher Owen Bender award for the best presentation by a post-doctoral fellow.

The panel of judges included Dr. Raja Kamalampeta, Dr. Nehal Thakor, Dr. Binod Pageni, David Hill, Dr. Tony Russell, Dr. Senthil Kumar, Tony Montina, Dr. Rene Boere and Dr. Chris Bender.

The department extends its thanks to the judges and congratulations to all the participants.

Thirty-five students, including post-doctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, master’s and undergraduate students and a high school student participated this year. First-place winners received $300 and second-place winners received $100.

Graduate students honoured with research awards

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:34:27 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge celebrated the achievements of 21 graduate students last night at the 2012 Graduate Student Research Awards reception.

"These graduate students are exemplars of academic achievement," says Dr. Robert Wood, dean of the School of Graduate Studies. "The exciting academic work that they do is advancing the frontiers of knowledge and creativity, and it cultivates and builds an essential foundation for our growing reputation as a comprehensive university. Indeed, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community is immensely proud of these accomplished graduate student scholars."

Following is a list of the 2012 award winners.

Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
Erin Zelinski
(Robert Sutherland)
Neuroscience

Corinne Sidler
(Olga Kovalchuk)
Biological Sciences

Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures
Aaron Mullin
(Craig Coburn)
Geography

Alberta Cancer Foundation
Lidiya Luzhna
(Olga Kovalchuk)
Biological Sciences

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral (NSERC)
Patrick Barks
(Robert Laird)
Biological Sciences

Andrew Hudson
(Camron Goater & Tony Russell)
Biological Sciences

Jenni Karl
(Ian Whishaw)
Neuroscience

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship Master (NSERC)
Kathryn Kuchapski
(Joseph Rasmussen)
Biological Sciences

Kirsten Rosler
(Hans-Joachim Wieden)
Chemistry and Biochemistry

Aaron Mullin
(Craig Coburn)
Geography

Natalie Freeman
(Louise Barrett & Peter Henzi)
Psychology

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's (SSHRC)
Gillian Ayers
(Claudia Malacrida)
Sociology

Leslie Bush
(Robbin Derry)
Management

Stacey Leavitt
(Michelle Helstein & Sean Brayton)
Kinesiology & Physical Education

Daniel Rutledge
(Sameer Deshpande)
Management

Rachel Shields
(Jason Laurendeau)
Sociology

Mark Bruce
(Dawn McBride)
Education

School of Graduate Studies Fellowship
Darcy Best
(Hadi Kharaghani)
Mathmatics & Computer Science

Health Quality Council of Alberta
Shannon Vandenberg
(Judith Kulig)
Health Sciences

endMS
Brietta Gerrard
(Artur Luczak)
Neuroscience

Alberta Gambling Research Institute
Scott Oberg
(Matthew Tata)
Neuroscience

UNews - Tony Russell

Grant to enable purchase of state-of-the-art biophysical research equipment

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Chinook Symposium winners announced

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Graduate students honoured with research awards

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